The White House Blog: The Vice President

Vice President Biden Travels to Mexico and Honduras

Vice President Joe Biden greets Mexican President Felipe Calderon at Los Pinos in Mexico City, Mexico, March 5, 2012. (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

This week, Vice President Biden traveled to Mexico and Honduras as part of the administration’s sustained, high-level engagement with the Americas. The Vice President’s visit comes in advance of the President’s participation in the Summit of the Americas this April in Colombia, which will focus on leveraging Hemispheric connections and partnerships to improve the lives of people throughout the region.

On Monday, Vice President Biden met with President Calderon at Los Pinos, the Presidential Palace in Mexico City. On the agenda was the close U.S.-Mexico partnership including a wide range of economic and security issues related to a shared border that sees more than a million legal crossings and more than $1 billion in trade every day.

While in Mexico City, Vice President Biden also met with presidential candidates from the country’s three major political parties – Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, Enrique Peña Nieto, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and Josefina Vázquez Mota of the National Action Party. He learned about each candidate’s vision for Mexico, as well as the future of the U.S.-Mexico relationship, but also expressed that he and President Obama look forward to working with whomever the people of Mexico elect.

President Obama Honors Iraq Veterans at the White House

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a Department of Defense dinner in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 29, 2012. The President and Mrs. Obama hosted the dinner to honor Armed Forces who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, and to honor their families. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Dr Jill Biden tonight welcomed a group of true American heroes to the White House. “A Nation’s Gratitude: Honoring those who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn” was a formal dinner that paid tribute to our Iraq veterans and marked the end of the war.

More than 100 service members and their guests were in attendance, and the invitees included men and women in uniform from all ranks, each U.S. state and territory, and every branch of the Armed Forces. Together, they represented the million American troops who served in Iraq, and they also represented  what Vice President Joe Biden called the finest generation of warriors in all of history.

In his remarks, the President welcomed the veterans home, praised their bravery and dedication to their mission, and thanked them on behalf of more than 300 million Americans: 

Tonight, what we can do is convey what you’ve meant to the rest of us. Because through the dust and the din and the fog of war, the glory of your service always shone through. In your noble example, we see the virtues and the values that sustain America, that keep this country great.  

You taught us about duty. Blessed to live in the land of the free, you could have opted for an easier path. But you know that freedom is not free. And so you volunteered and you stepped forward, and you raised your hand and you took an oath -- to protect and defend; to serve a cause greater than yourself, knowing, in a time of war, you could be sent into harm’s way. 

You taught us about resolve. Invasion turned to insurgency and then sectarian strife. But you persevered, tour after tour, year after year.  Indeed, we’re mindful that even as we gather here, Iraq veterans continue to risk their lives in Afghanistan, and our prayers are with them all tonight.  

In one of our nation’s longest wars, you wrote one of the most extraordinary chapters in American military history. Now the Iraqi people have a chance to forge their own destiny, and every one of you who served there can take pride in knowing you gave the Iraqis this opportunity; that you succeeded in your mission.        

Vice President and Dr. Biden Host the Third Annual Black History Month Reception

Vice President Biden speaks to guests at the third annual Black History Month reception at the Naval Observatory, February 27, 2012 (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

This week, Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden hosted their third annual Black History Month reception at the Naval Observatory.  More than 140 guests were in attendance, including Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, as well as members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the National Conference of Black Mayors and the National Organization of Black County Officials.

In addition to hearing from the Vice President, Dr. Biden and civil rights leader Congressman John Lewis, guests had the opportunity to see a collection of photos from the Delaware Historical Society’s special exhibit, Wilmington in the 1930s: Focus on the East Side. Henry Szymanski, Sr.’s collection provides a rare Depression-era glimpse into the daily lives of people living in the city’s East side community.

Together We Must End Dating Violence

Vice President Biden with Ann Burke at a reception to mark the 17th anniversary of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act at the Naval Observatory, September 13th, 2012 (Official White House Photo by David Lienemann)

Over the past month, college newspapers across the country have run an op-ed penned by Vice President Biden in which he urges college students to take action to help put an end to dating violence and sexual assault on their campuses. February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, and Vice President Biden took the opportunity to remind students that dating violence is still a very real problem in our country. 

The facts are clear: nearly one in five college women will be the victim of a sexual assault, and one in ten teens will be hurt by someone they are dating. As the Vice President wrote, these are not merely statistics, “these are the people you know: your roommates, your friends, your sisters, and your classmates.” 

As the Vice President has often said, we all have an absolute obligation to try to stop abuse when we see it – no matter what. That’s why this Administration is working so hard to confront the problem head on. 

Last April, new standards were announced that make it clear that colleges are responsible for creating campus environments that refuse to tolerate dating violence. And in September, the Vice President launched the “1 is 2 Many” project – an effort to change attitudes that lead to violence and educate the public on the realities of abuse.